Beowulf as Elegy

The picture so presented accords with that of the Old English elegy. Happiness and prosperity — all human goods except, perhaps, fame — are transitory. Victories may sometimes be gained, but wars are never really won, and fate stands ever ready to sweep away the lives and works of men. The Christian answer was, of course, to seek the permanent bliss of heaven. The heroic answer, as embodied in Beowulf, is a valiant stoicism: ‘Do your utmost. A good name is all you can win in this world.’ Very much the same philosophy is summed up in the epitaph (perhaps legendary) of a cowboy: ‘Here lies Bronco Bill. He always done his damnedest.’ Angels, it was once observed in a different context, can do no more.

In the light of this philosophy, the ‘tragedy of the Geats’ implicit in Beowulf’s death, of which some commentators make a great deal, becomes less significant. All that any man can leave his heirs is a good name and a valiant example. If they cannot be wise and valiant in their own right, then he cannot save them. Those who appear to think that if Beowulf could somehow have survived his contest with the dragon both he and the Geats would have survived forever should reread both the poem and history.

-JDA Ogilvy and Donald C Baker, Reading Beowulf, 1983

 

Old English Vocab

ceorl – churl (free man)

dom – judgement, doom

dryhten – lord

duguth – doughty (experienced)

ellen – bravery

facenstafas – treacherous arts

gedryht – troop

geogoth – youth (untried)

lof – praise

lofgeorn – eager for praise

ofermod – hubris

scamiende – ashamed

treowlogan – troth-breakers

wergild – manpayment

 

Anglo-Saxon tradition

Regarding ring-giving, treasure hoards, and loot as symbols of the courage of the men who won the gold:

According to scholar Barry Tharaud, the spoils of war are meaningless if they are not acquired through acts of bravery. “When an outlaw steals a gold cup from a dragon’s treasure hoard…it is a blow against the entire heroic system because it reduces the symbolic value of things to mere material value. It is a fall from the heroic world to a less ideal world in which symbols are deceptive and equivocal.”

When the chieftain bestowed treasure upon his thegns he was expressing admiration and recognition for their deeds, but also confidence that the men would continue to fight bravely in the future. A warriors acceptance of the gifts amounted to an oath of continued loyalty. The gifting cycle (ideally) created bonds of brotherhood and trust.

Tharaud on epics:

“Whether an epic is composed to be sung or read, its most important characteristic is that it tells the story of a society or culture — usually during a time of crisis — in such a way as to expose contradictions inherent in the values of that society.”

 

Senlac Hill

Senlac Hill, Harold Godwinson’s defensive position at the Battle of Hastings, was called Santlache (Sandy stream) in Old English. After the Norman Conquest this became Sanguelac (blood lake) and, eventually, Senlac.

 

Shippey notes

notes from J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century by Tom Shippey
Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston 2001

-Tolkien took Saruman’s name from the reconstructed word *saru, which would have been the equivalent of the West Saxon word searu in the dialect of Mercia (the Mark). Searu appears in some compunds:

searonet = searo-net, Beowulf’s mail shirt made by the orþanc (cunning thought) of the smith

searo-bonds hold Heorot together; usually translated as cunning here, but could mean some kind of iron clamps

searoþonc = cunning thought

searocræftig = cunning-crafty (adj)

searoniþ = cunning-spite (noun)

searugimma geþræc = “confusion of cunning gems”

sinc searwade = “treasure was cunning” (here it is made into a verb)

So Saruman could be translated as “cunning man”, which on the surface seems like an epithet that could be given to any wizard. But, significantly, the word searu clearly carries connotations of mechanical ability, deceit, and worldly wealth/power, all ingredients in the downfall of Saruman.
(169)

-Frodo’s name comes from Froda father of Ingeld, vaguely alluded to in Beowulf. Same character appears as Froði father of Ingjaldr in Old Norse “as if later authors were trying to make sense of different and contradictory stories.” In both OE and ON the name means “the wise one”. Froði was a pacifist (like Frodo toward the end of The Lord of the Rings) and so was more-or-less forgotten (again, like Frodo–he did not become famous or well-respected in the Shire, and his heroism was eventually misunderstood/misinterpreted in other lands), unlike the famously vengeful Ingjaldr.

According to Saxo Grammaticus and Snorri Sturlusson, Froði reighned over a period without war or robbery called the Froða-frið, or “peace of Froði”. The peace was generated by a magic mill turned by giantesses who turned on Froði because he wouldn’t give them any rest.

Shippey writes, “There is something sad, ironic, and true about the fact that Ingjaldr remained a popular Norse name for generations, and even the monks of Lindisfarne wanted to hear about him, while the story of his peaceful father was rapidly turned into a parable of futility.” (184)

-From Pearl, “As stremande sterneʒ quen stroþemen slepe”, “as streaming stars when stroth-men sleep”

OE *stroþ probably means marshy, overgrown land; stroþemen is possibly poetic description of mortal men in this tangled world only dimly aware of what lies beyond. (204)

-Old English word for the gods is osas, cognate of Old Norse Aesir. (286)

-In “Farmer Giles of Ham” the parson “was a grammarian, and could doubtless see further into the future than others.”
In medieval terms, grammar = “glamour” (shape-changing, deception) = “grammarye” (magic). (292)

 

Old English Proverbs

Ciggendra gehwelc wile þæt hine man gehere.
Calling each wants that him man hears
[ciegan = to call, call out]

“Everyone who cries out wants to be heard!”

Man deþ swa he byþ þonne he mot swa he wile.
Man doeth as he beeth when he may do as he wills.
[motan = to be allowed, have the opportunity]
[swa= so, as]

“A man does as he is when he can do what he wants.”
Power reveals a man’s true character.